What’s your Vermont Dream Team Six Pack?

May 5th, 2014

While reading an 2013 post by one of my favorite New England beer bloggers, I came across an older post called Maine’s Dream Team Six-Pack. In this post, Chad Lothian refers to a post from 2011 titled “What’s Your State’s Dream Team Six Pack?.” Chad’s post provided three simple rules and then asks local brewers and beer related businesses about their “dream team six-packs.”

Using the same rules, I reached out to local bloggers, beer enthusiasts, business owners, and homebrewers. To clarify some rules, I added three new rules concerning seasonal and collaboration beer and bottle/can sizes.

The given requirements were:

The beer must be brewed in Vermont

The beer must be available in bottles or cans

The beer must be available off site

(Added) Seasonal beer is allowed

(Added) One-time collaborations are not allowed

(Added) Any size can or bottle is allowed (12oz, 16oz, 22oz, 750ml)

There’s a lot of great Vermont beer; however, a large portion of Vermont beer becomes excluded for being draught-only or only purchasable at the brewery.

I would like to extend a huge “THANK YOU” to those who responded. I plan on doing a few more community survey posts later in the year to help highlight local blogs and beer related businesses. If you’d like to take part in future community posts, please send me a message via the Contact link in the website menu.

Note: We learned that Long Trail Blackbeary Wheat was discontinued after the initial emails were sent, so that offering was ‘grandfathered’ as a valid selection.

For me, nothing beats a chilled Heady Topper. I’ve gone on long trips and been without Topper for a few weeks and miss the grapefruit forward hop-bomb. These days, I travel with 2-3 cans in my suit case. Knockout Blonde from Lawson’s is seasonal, but is an enjoyable crisp summer beer best shared with a friend. At $7 a bomber, it’s not a bad deal either for such a small nano-brewery. Long Trail still has some pizazz with their yearly coffee stout and now more often available Limbo IPA. Limbo is a packaged beer I’d drink while camping on times when Heady isn’t available. While Rock Art is slowly beefing up their barrel aged beer program, their Black IPA is one of my favorites just after Lawson’s Toast & Hill Farmstead’s Society & Solitude #2. Since Black Moon IPA is brewed a lot more and available around Vermont, it is definitely in my 6-pack. Finally, a small upstart in southern Vermont is new to the scene as of 2013 but their Sour Ale is making waves around the country. If you see it on the shelves, grab a bottle.

Brittney Hibbs is the morning anchor for Fox44 & ABC22 News. Brittney is also the Reporter & Producer for the segment called “What’s on Tap?” where she travels all across Vermont to visit breweries and interview brewers. You can watch her segments online at Fox44/ABC22 What’s On Tap

Chad Brodsky

Burlington Brew Tours gives visitors and residents in state of Vermont an opportunity to learn and sample handcrafted beers at local breweries and brew-pubs, while leaving the driving to us. Whether you’re a light beer person or connoisseur, Burlington Brew Tours provides a safe and comfortable way to visit the region’s top breweries.

The Green Mountain Mashers is a homebrew club of about 50 members who meet once a month to discuss homebrewing, brewing techniques, activities, and beer-related information. We also share our homebrewed beer and interesting commercial beer. In addition to our regular meetings, we sponsor a competition, a summer picnic, a spring party and a “trub trek” which has taken us to breweries in Vermont, Montreal, Maine and Massachusetts. Anyone interested in homebrewing or becoming a member is encouraged to attend a meeting (meeting date and location are specified on our facebook page).

It’s impossible to talk about Vermont craft beer and not mention The Alchemist’s Heady Topper. Heady, a hop-forward double IPA, is arguably Vermont’s most sought after beer and is continuously flying from shelves. Long Trail’s Blackbeary Wheat is effervescent and finishes with a nice note of blackberries. This beer is made for easy drinking days at the beach, on the slopes, or at home. Magic Hat #9 may be the most widely available beer that is brewed in Vermont. Dependable, consistent, and tasty, #9 highlights what craft beer can become with enough time, passion, and a bit of quirk. Wolaver’s Wildflower Wheat may only be available in the spring and summer, but its sweet finish and crisp flavor leaves you very satisfied. Trout River’s Rainbow Red is an American Red ale that is fruity, slightly malty, and refreshing. Double Sunshine IPA is a hoppy, slightly fruity beer from Lawson’s Finest Liquids. It may be a little difficult to find but it is well worth the search.

Heady Topper is a juicy, citrusy, resin hop bomb that does not disappoint. A perfect beer for any occasion, enjoy fresh and “drink it from the can.” The Wolaver’s Oatmeal Stout is a delicious creamy, complex and well-balanced organic stout. A deep roasted, coffee and chocolate malt with just enough hop to keep you guessing. One of Vermont’s iconic beers, Long Trail Ale and my personal favorite choice for bars, golf courses, music festivals. A seemingly endless all season beer built for Vermont. Fiddlehead Hodad is a chocolate vanilla toasted coconut porter and is an uniquely assembled concoction of epic proportions. Rich chocolate malts balanced with the sweetness of vanilla and a toasted coconut finish. Double Sunshine is another hop bomb and perfect DIPA. The juiciest of hops and a booming hop aroma. Trout River Rainbow Red is everything Vermont crammed into perfect Red Ale. This was my first ever purchased 6-pack and also the first beer I had at a bar in Burlington. It has a special place in my heart and I will love it forever.

Steve Koenemann

As I thought about all of the great beers available here in Vermont (we *are* blessed), I decided that there was a good chance that many of people’s “dream six-packs” would contain a lot of the same beers. As I thought more about the beers available today from the 30+ brewers here, I began to think of something slightly different. Many of the newer VT brewers, which are (unquestionably) producing fantastic beers, owe a lot to some of the the brewers that have been a part of the Vermont brewery scene the longest… in a sense, those that paved the way and brought early notice to Vermont beers. So my six-pack pays tribute the Vermont beers that started me and many others down the craft beer path many years ago. Although no longer “trendy” these classic VT beers formed the foundation of the successes we are seeing today and I still enjoy some of them occasionally.

I decided to maintain one of the provisos I used last time”that the beers also had to be generally available to me here in southern Vermont. Which is to say, the southern Vermont beer gulag, since there’s obviously an imaginary iron beer curtain somewhere north of here, that breweries like Hill Farmstead, the Alchemist, Lawson’s Finest Liquids are chicken to cross. Yeah, that’s what I said, chicken! So any time you lily-livered brewers want to prove me wrong, just start shipping your beer down here. If you dare!

My six-pack weighs heavily towards IPAs, Belgian, and Wheat beer. Heady Topper is my first choice for my dream team six-pack. Heady provides the most incredible hoppy aroma and taste that I’ve experienced from a Vermont IPA. Second, Long Trail Limbo has quickly become my “go to IPA” due to its availability, hoppiness, and great taste. Long Trail Farmhouse White IPA (from the Farmhouse IPA Variety Pack) is a great gateway between IPAs, Wheat, and Belgian styles. The Long Trail Farmhouse IPA variety pack has a great mix of American, Session, White, and Black IPAs for very reasonable price. With summer approaching, I’ll be reaching for my favorite low ABV summer/lawnmower/grilling beers such as Foley Brothers Ginger Wheat, which has just the right amount of ginger. Wolaver’s Wildflower Wheat is a great sessionable wheat beer that’s also perfect for hot, humid summer days after doing gardening and yard work. Lastly, Rock Art Golden Tripple is a great locally made Belgian-style beer with hints of spices and ginger.

About the Author

James WelchJim is a web developer living in Burlington, Vermont and founder of vtbeer.org. He enjoys all of Vermont's craft beer and visiting the numerous breweries and pubs across Vermont. He spends too much time reading about beer and learning how to become a better homebrewer. While he favors Belgian beer and IPAs, he'd rather try a new beer than one he's already had.

Heady and Vermonster fall into my top 10 beer list, i love them and dont get to have them often enough. Switchback is the first beer i look for when i travel home and the one beer that makes me homesick when i find it on tap here in Maine. Lawson’s is a great brewery and Session in the Rye is just one that sticks in my mind, this could have easily been swapped with Double Sunshine though. Double Bag and Rainbow Red take me back to the early days in college when i was just starting to sample what Craft Beer had to offer.

Cheers to all the participants in this post, Great picks. I think i need to get home and try a few of these new breweries soon.